Thursday, June 30, 2016

Abia: Why we issued Certificate of Return to Uche Ogah – INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has advanced reasons for
its decision to issue a Certificate of Return to Mr Uche Ogah who came second
at the last Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship primaries in Abia
State. INEC National Commissioner in charge of the South East, Amb. Lawrence
Nwuruku said the commission only kowtowed to the lawful order of a court.
Nwuruku added that as a citizen, he could go to jail if he flouts a valid court
order. He said if the court tomorrow orders a reversal of the action, INEC
would not hesitate to do its bidding. “The situation is that we are simply
obeying the court order. The court said with immediate effect without wasting
of time, we should issue him Certificate of Return and that is what we have
done – to obey the court order. If the court tomorrow issues another order, we
would obey the same. By the grace of God, I am the INEC Commissioner in charge
of South East. I’ll do the same thing if the court orders us to do so. If court
says we should issue the same certificate to another person. In this case,
court ordered us to issue a Certificate of Return to the person who won the
election and that is Uche Ogah. I was the person who gave the Certificate of
Return to Gov. Ikpeazu as he was declared winner. Now, the court has said
otherwise. One thing we know is that we are not above the law and we cannot
disobey the laws of the land. After the court, another person we obey in our
land is God and my conscience is my God. Another thing that guides us is the
court and we must obey its order with immediate effect. If you were in the
court that day, and I urge you the media, to go and study the court ruling very
well, it was wonderful; it was direct”, he said. Speaking in the same vein,
INEC’s Director of Publicity, Oluwole Osaze-Uzi, had earlier stated that the
decision followed an order by an Abuja Federal High Court directing INEC to
immediately issue Certificate of Return to Mr. Ogah. Justice Okon Abang of the
court had Monday asked INEC to issue the Certificate of Return issued to Mr
Ogah. Justice Abang, had ruled that on the account of fake tax returns during
the primaries, Mr Ikpeazu, ab initio was never qualified to run in the PDP
primaries as a governorship candidate. He consequently ordered the Chief Judge
of the state to swear in Uche Ogah as the substantive Governor of Abia State.

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